Lucy,
Not sure how many stem cell donors post on here so I thought I would just share a little of my husband's experience as a stem cell donor ( I am a living kidney donor). My husband donated stem cells through apheresis about a year and half ago. He is 53 years old now. He matched someone on Gift of Life. He does not know the recipient. All we found out was that it was an international donation and the country would not allow any information to be released. My husband, is an avid runner and in pretty good shape. He does take medication for high blood pressure and high cholesterol (bad genes!).
Five days before the treatment you need to take medication called filgrastim to stimulate bone marrow production. It is an injection which you can give yourself if they train you or they have someone come out daily to administer. Check with your coordinator. My husband and I are both in health care so this wasn't an issue. He injected himself. The side effect of the medication is bone pain and feeling very achy. He said he did feel it especially by the fifth day. Tylenol or ibuprophen should help.
Gift of Life wanted him to go to Virginai for the procedure but we live in Baltimore and have two well renowned institutions, University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins who both do transplants so he told them if they want his donation he would do it at University of Maryland. He is also a professor at Maryland and has a good friend who is a hematologist oncologist who helped him through it. So Maryland collected his sample and took care of getting it to gift of life. So in terms of traveling why can't you do the apheresis at a hospital near you and they ship it to your brother's hospital. This may be a different situation in your brother's case, but my brother, my kidney recipient came from NY to Baltimore for his surgery and went home after 3 weeks. We did this pre dialysis so he was able to travel and not too sick. Does your brother needs a stem cell transplant immediately, not sure what his health is like now, or if this too is preemptive to a more serious condition. But it doesn't hurt to explore options.
My husband did recommend that in the future he would ask for Ativan or something to relax during the apheresis as it was just so difficult to lie still for so many hours. If he moved his arms too much the line would get kinked and stop flowing. He is also not a very patient patient. All in all he felt fine. Went to work the next day. Felt tired but his blood counts came back soon after the treatment. His cells were harvested only one time. We don't know what happened to the recipient if he passed away so another treatment was not needed or if he was cured and therefore another treatment was not needed.
Ask the transplant coordinator for a donor buddy so you can talk to others from that hospital who have done this. It may be helpful to get an idea of what to expect when speaking to someone who has actually gone through it.
How is your relationship with your brother? Sometimes in family donations there is a lot more going on then the actual surgery or procedure. Talking to a social worker or psychologist who is familiar with transplant might be helpful in helping you sort out all your feelings. Sibling relationships are sometimes difficult and a crisis brings up a lot of feelings that lay dormant for many years. I did find speaking to a social worker a safe place to vent and have my feelings validated.
Good luck to you and your brother. And congratulations on becoming a new grandmother.
Sherri